Joint attention is essential for establishing effective social communication. However, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often exhibit deficits in joint attention, which hinder their social interactions with peers and adults. Traditional assessment methods predominantly rely on expert observation, lacking objective measures of…

Autistic students are educated in Australia across a variety of contexts and almost all educators use individualized goal-setting as a way of ensuring appropriate accommodations and curriculum modifications. Educators experience similar challenges when developing individualized goals for students, including lack of a standardized process for goal…

This study explores the experiences of siblings of autistic adolescents within families. Without the novel insights generated from engaging with siblings of autistic adolescents within a qualitative framework, it can be challenging to develop strategies for practicing effectively with this group or structuring interventions with these families.…

Due to the higher autism research presence of higher-income countries, the known social and cultural experiences of families raising a child with autism are centered on their realities. This narrative overlooks the experiences of many families who do not fit this archetype, such as those residing in low- and middle-income countries, who are…

Every year in America, more than half a million parents of late-talking children face agonizing questions: What should I do if my two- or even three-year-old has not yet begun to talk? Should I worry that my child is autistic or intellectually disabled? Are expensive therapies or medications needed? Will my child ever speak normally? In this…

In recent years, genetic and genomic autism research has come under increasing scrutiny, moving to the center of debates about ableism, neurodiversity, autism acceptance, and the future of research and care. At the same time, both autism research and genetics and genomics research have, as fields, begun to reckon with the significance of the…

Neurodivergent individuals are present in a significant portion of the global population. Despite its prevalence, educational and organisational environments often fail to accommodate neurodivergent individuals, particularly in the workforce. However, pioneering companies have started integrating neurodiversity into their workforces, recognising…

Examination of the effectiveness of an attention intervention using a randomized controlled trial for toddlers with suspected or confirmed autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Data was collected from Alberta, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, Canada between February 2018 and February 2020 (halted due to COVID-19 pandemic). Participants were 35 toddlers…

The purpose of this study was to explore Early Years (EY) teachers' knowledge and perceptions about autism in Greece. An online questionnaire was completed by 276 respondents with experience in teaching children from 0 to 6 years old. The findings showed that EY teachers in Greece are aware of the main difficulties people with autism are likely to…

Special educators are at the forefront of the Indian special education system in providing tailored instruction and specialized training for students with autism. There are evidence-based strategies that exist to enhance social, communication, cognitive, and mental health skills among students with autism. However, their implementation in the…

This study examined the associations between teachers' beliefs and behaviors related to inclusive education (IE) and their evaluations of social and academic competences in students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) -- important indicators of IE. Utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the research investigated how teachers' intentions…

This book takes the reader through a journey from understanding autism, how it manifests and how it is diagnosed. The author looks at how circumstances in schools including isolation, misunderstanding meltdowns, lack of autism awareness and training have criminalised autism, leading to suspensions, exclusions, and the use of restraint and…

Our objective was to examine occurrence of both conditions in Medicaid; and compare Medicaid service use and cost, and chronic conditions among adults with Down syndrome and autism to those with Down syndrome alone and those with autism alone. We used ICD9 and ICD10 codes in Medicaid claims and encounters from 2011 to 2019 to identify autism and…

Biological accounts have suggested an overlap between Parkinson's disease and autism despite their being studied largely at opposite ends of the life course. Characterising this overlap can identify potentially shared aetiologies and care pathways for these conditions. However, this overlap has so far only been tested in older autistic adults who…

Mental and physical health conditions are a major topic of concern in autistic adults, but studies rarely consider their overlap. Therefore, this study assessed physical health conditions and mental health conditions in autistic adults in the Netherlands and potential associations between them. Using questionnaires, we compared autistic (n = 327)…